A femoral nerve block is a

nerve block Nerve block or regional nerve blockade is any deliberate interruption of signals traveling along a nerve, often for the purpose of pain relief. Local anesthetic nerve block (sometimes referred to as simply "nerve block") is a short-term block, u ...

that uses

local anesthetic A local anesthetic (LA) is a medication that causes absence of pain sensation. In the context of surgery, a local anesthetic creates an absence of pain in a specific location of the body without a loss of consciousness, as opposed to a general an ...

to achieve

analgesia Pain management is an aspect of medicine and health care involving relief of pain (pain relief, analgesia, pain control) in various dimensions, from acute and simple to chronic and challenging. Most physicians and other health professionals ...

in the

leg A leg is a weight-bearing and animal locomotion, locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single ...

. The block works by affecting the

femoral nerve The femoral nerve is a nerve in the thigh that supplies skin on the upper thigh and inner leg, and the muscles that extend the knee. Structure The femoral nerve is the major nerve supplying the anterior compartment of the thigh. It is the largest ...

. A femoral nerve block (FNB) results in anesthesia of the skin and muscles of the

anterior Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

thigh In human anatomy, the thigh is the area between the hip (pelvis) and the knee. Anatomically, it is part of the lower limb. The single bone in the thigh is called the femur. This bone is very thick and strong (due to the high proportion of bone ...

and most of the

femur The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with ...

and

knee joint In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

, as well as the skin on the medial aspect of the leg below the knee joint. The block can be performed using

anatomical landmarks Anatomical terminology is a form of scientific terminology used by anatomists, zoologists, and health professionals such as doctors. Anatomical terminology uses many unique terms, suffixes, and prefixes deriving from Ancient Greek and Latin. T ...

ultrasound Ultrasound is sound waves with frequency, frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing range, hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hea ...

or a

nerve stimulator Neuromodulation is "the alteration of nerve activity through targeted delivery of a stimulus, such as electrical stimulation or chemical agents, to specific neurological sites in the body". It is carried out to normalize – or modulate – ner ...

. For hip surgery, a femoral nerve block and

fascia iliac block Fascia iliaca blocks (FIC, FICB) is a local anesthetic nerve block, a type of regional anesthesia technique, used to provide analgesia or anaesthesia to the hip and thigh. FICB can performed by using ultrasound or with a loss of resistance tec ...

(FIB) are alternative methods for providing analgesic relief. A meta-analysis concluded that compared to FIB, the FNB decreased

visual analog scale The visual analogue scale (VAS) is a psychometrics, psychometric response scale that can be used in questionnaires. It is a measurement instrument for subjective characteristics or attitudes that cannot be directly measured. When responding to a VA ...

at 24 hrs and the incidence of nausea, vomiting and oversedation. For knee surgery, a femoral nerve block may lead to delayed postoperative mobilization of the patient and greater risk of falls as it causes motor blockade of the

quadriceps The quadriceps femoris muscle (, also called the quadriceps extensor, quadriceps or quads) is a large muscle group that includes the four prevailing muscles on the front of the thigh. It is the sole extensor muscle of the knee, forming a large ...

muscles. Due to the sparing of the thigh muscles the adductor canal block is becoming a preferred choice for providing post-operative analgesia for knee surgery.

References

{{Dosage forms Regional anesthesia

See also

References